In various phases of hydrocarbon recovery operations, a tubing injector is commonly used to insert a tubing into the well for performing various downhole services. Conducting tubing intervention in underwater or subsea wells typically warrants the use of a tubing injector at the subsea wellhead. The underwater disposition of the injector and the significant distance that may exist to the sea floor pose unique challenges in conducting effective and efficient subsea tubing intervention operations.
Various presently known injector systems and techniques for subsea tubing intervention are believed to have one or more drawbacks. For example, in some known existing systems, the sea-floor injector is utilized as the primary injector for moving the tubing into and out of the well. In such instances, the operation of the sea-floor injector will need to be controlled from the surface. Accordingly, the submerged injector will typically require substantial valve and control components, instrumentation that can be monitored from the surface and significant umbilical support (communication/control lines) from the surface. As such, the submerged injector will likely be heavy and cumbersome, requiring special equipment for deployment and rendering retrieval difficult or impractical. Furthermore, a multitude of components that are subject to malfunction, failure and maintenance will be underwater or located on the injector at the sea floor. Remotely accessing, repairing or replacing these components will be time consuming, expensive and difficult or impossible.
It should be understood that the above-described discussion is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope or subject matter of this disclosure or any related patent application or patent. Thus, none of the appended claims or claims of any related patent application or patent should be limited by the above discussion or required to address, include or exclude the above-cited examples, features and/or disadvantages merely because of their mention above.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved systems, apparatus and methods capable of providing a tubing into an underwater well having one or more of the attributes, capabilities or features described below or evident from the appended drawings.